Time-resolved scanning ion conductance microscopy for three-dimensional tracking of nanoscale cell surface dynamics

Nanocharacterization plays a vital role in understanding the complex nanoscale organization of cells and organelles. Understanding cellular function requires high-resolution information about how the cellular structures evolve over time. A number of techniques exist to resolve static nanoscale structure of cells in great detail (super-resolution optical microscopy1, EM2, AFM3). However, time-resolved imaging techniques tend to either have lower resolution, are limited to small areas, or cause damage to the cells thereby preventing long-term time-lapse studies. Scanning probe microscopy methods such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) combine high-resolution imaging with the ability to image living cells in physiological conditions. The mechanical contact between the tip and the sample, however, deforms the cell surface, disturbs the native state, and prohibits long-term time-lapse imaging. Here, we develop a scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) for high-speed and long-term nanoscale imaging. By utilizing recent advances in nanopositioning4, nanopore fabrication5, microelectronics6, and controls engineering7 we developed a microscopy method that can resolve spatiotemporally diverse three-dimenional processes on the cell membrane at sub-5nm axial resolution. We tracked dynamic changes in live cell morphology with nanometer details and temporal ranges of sub-second to days, imagining diverse processes ranging from endocytosis, micropinocytosis, and mitosis, to bacterial infection and cell differentiation in cancer cells. This technique enables a detailed look at membrane events and may offer insights into cell-cell interactions for infection, immunology, and cancer research.